Car-coupling



(No Model.)

OAR COUPLING. No. 479.717. Patented July' 26, .1892.

5 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUGH MOORE, OF MAUOH OHUNK, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR-COLlPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 479,717, dated July 26, 1892.

Application filed March 5, 1892.

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, HUGH MOORE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mauch Ohunk, in the county of Carbon and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Couplers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to that class of carcouplers in which pivoted jaw-heads automatically interlock by spring action when two cars are forced together. The main difficulties met in the use of this class of couplings are that it is almost impossible to secure springs sufficiently flexible and powerful and that the various parts are not so constructed as to be detachable and interchangeable. To overcome these difficulties, I have invented the form of coupling illustrated in the accompanying one sheet of drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the coupling. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same with its apparatus for attachment to the car removed. Figs. 3 and 4 are detail views of the removable spring.

Throughoutthe drawings the same reference-figures refer to the same parts.

1 is the shank or draw-bar of the coupling, which is fastened to the car by the keyed bolt 13 and the plates 13, the spring 14 giving the necessary resilience to the action of the draw-bar or shank 1. The short jaw-head 2 is pivoted to the shank 1 by the removable pin 11, held in place by the key 12. The platespring 5 holds the pivoted jaw-head up to its work.

3 is the ordinary coupling-link, and 4 the pin by which it is held in place ready for coupling to any car having a different apparatus from that herein described.

9 is a swiveled bail or staple, to which a chain may be attached for pulling the jawhead to one side and uncoupling.

Alongitudinal pocket is formed in the shank Serial No. 423,823. (No model.)

1 for the reception of the spring 5. In the preferred construction this pocket is formed by placing the pins 6 and 7 at a distance from the central part of the shank just sufficient to allow the spring 5 to slip between. The outer end of the spring 5 is formed into an eye 5, and through this eye and through the j aw-head 2 passes the removable pin 8, which is kept in place by the key 10.

The operation of my invention is easily understood. When two cars are forced together, the spring 5 allows the pivoted jaws to swing to one side and then snap over one another, so that the overhanging faces 15 intermesh and the cars are coupled. A pull on the bail 9 uncouples them.

The advantages of my invention are that the short j aw-head and the long leverage which the spring 5 gets by virtue of its bearing on the head through the pin 8, which is well out toward the end, allow a spring of considerable flexibility to be used without endangering the certainty and security of the coupling action. By removing the pins 8 and 11 the coupling may be all taken apart without withdrawing the shank or draw-bar 1 from the car and any broken parts may be replaced.

Having therefore described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is

In a car-coupler, the combination of the shank provided with a socket into which a plate-spring may he slid, the short jaw-head pivoted to the shank by a removable pin, the plate-spring which has an eye formed by curving its outer end, and the removable pin which passes through said jaw head and through the eye in the plate-spring, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HUGH MOORE. Witnesses:

JOHN F. THOMAS,

LAIRD H. BARBER. 

